Today was one of those semi-mechanical kind of days. The trouble really started a few weeks ago when my car as I was leaving Lowe's (hiss, spit) parking lot decided to show me a "check engine" light combined with a traction control off light and a frenetically flashing cruise control light. My normal solution to that kind of situation is just to unplug the battery and replug it before continuing on. I didn't because I was tired and only ten miles from home. Thus I got home and thought no more of it.
The next time I went out it was just the "check engine" light. I tried my engine code reader and it didn't show me a single error code. I've had that kind of thing before and the solution has always been to change the engine air filter. Well, I bought a new engine air filter yesterday on my day out.
It wasn't truly a "day out" because it was really a work day. What with the Covid-19 outbreak, I'm down to a one day work week. That reminds me very much of the 1970s and the Arab oil crisis before Britain found North Sea oil. People had got down to a 3 day work week because there just wasn't the fuel to keep the power stations running. Trains ran on diesel and diesel was in short supply as was petrol/gasoline. Back then the power would be switched on for breakfast and would remain on until about 7pm or whenever most workers had got home then it would be switched off. Need electricity at night? Sorry - there was none. Weekends there was even less power as the power would be switched on for breakfast then off then on for lunch then off then on for dinner then off. Some days nobody could get to work because the bus company had no fuel.
But having rambled about Britain in the 1970s, lets get back to America in 2020. I did my 3 hours or so of driving a big yellow school bus and delivering 3 days worth of meals to around 70 children. Somebody else will do it on Monday next week and I'll do it again on Wednesday next week. Having done that, I was already out of the house so I went on a little shopping expedition.
The first thing I did was to head to the gun store for more ammunition. They'd upped the allowance since the panic buying of guns and ammunition had ended so I could get four boxes of ammunition. An extra 200 rounds never hurt anybody (aside from evildoers that get shot). I have to say that Sportsman's Warehouse really impressed me. Not only had they got a count of how many people were in the store but also lines on the floor designed to ensure social distancing. There was plexiglass at the cash register that allowed only goods and money to be passed while blocking the path for bad breath and so on. Not only that but having used the card machine and pin pad, they swabbed it down with an alcohol wipe. That is far better than any other place I have ever seen so far.
So, four more boxes added to the haul from last time I was in the area. From there I hit the interstate intending to go to Harbor Freight. I'd forgotten my list so I'd forgotten what I wanted but as I'm so rarely on interstates, I missed the exit, thinking I was on a totally different interstate where several exits lead to Harbor Freight.
Not feeling like turning round I figured I'd next make landfall at Tractor Supply to get stuff that I wanted there and I sailed right past that exit too. I really wasn't doing to well at interstates that day! I got off the interstate and went backroads. I'm much more comfortable on backroads. Thus my next ports of call would be Walmart, Lowe's (hiss,spit) and Autozone.
Walmart was pretty crowded with people not wearing face masks. That was a bit naughty of them! Walmart had announced they were not going to sell a wide range of things which was rather offputting. I picked up the food items I wanted, some seeds and noted there was still no sign of an end to the toilet paper drought. Needless to say, as the place was quite crowded I did not remember everything due to my not really wanting to stay in the same confined space as all the disease carriers.
Lowe's (hiss, spit) was the next port of call. I wanted 50 feet of 12/3 flexible cable. They were out of it. Had I remembered to go to Harbor Freight, they had it listed and ready made up as a 50 foot electrical cable with connectors. So boo to Lowe's (hiss, spit).
Following that I filled up my car fuel tank getting fuel at a very pleasant $1.49 a gallon. Not many years ago I could have paid $3.80 a gallon. In fact the highest I ever saw was $4.15 a gallon in Key West. But onwards and upwards, Autozone was next door and was where I bought an air filter for the engine.
Trying the code reader again, this time it listed a fault. I must be on the right stuff today!
Computers usually work best with periodic reboots. Thus I went to unplug the negative side of the battery. Undoing the clip with a 10mm socket in my socket wrench, I pulled the connector off for a moment or so. For some unknown reason the battery terminal was covered in a red gunge. I figured it was some kind of conductive paste. I put the connector back on and tightened the nut as far as it would go.
The connector was still loose and the connection could not be tightened further. My memory reminded me that Walmart had installed that battery. I'd paid for a 3 year battery and they told me they couldn't find the 3 year battery and had substituted with a 5 year battery at no extra cost. What they hadn't told me was that the connectors were undersized and that they'd bodged it together with red conductive paste.
A while back I'd have problems with the positive side. It had been flapping loose and the car wouldn't start so I'd had to borrow a car to go to work. On investigation the problem had been the positive connector on the battery. I simply tightened it and had six months more use before this problem cropped up.
Fortunately I had a thin piece of aluminium lying in the yard and remembered it and where it was. A piece of that eventually worked fine as a shim. I had nothing to cut it with - no tin snips so I just folded and unfolded and broke it due to work hardening where I needed a cut. That didn't take too long. Then it was a case of molding it round my 10mm socket and rolling it around to make it curved. I slipped that inside the battery connector as a sleeve, tightened the nut and had a perfect solution.
Checking, the "check engine" light had gone away but now the "traction control off" light was on. Maybe that'll clear itself up by next time I use the car. If not I'll have to disconnect and reconnect the battery again. Of this I am sure though - I shall never let Walmart change a battery. I only did it that time because I was feeling lazy.
My next task was nothing to do with any of my projects. This was a project to put down a new floor in a closet in the house. I had two pieces remaining from separate sheets of 8x10 plywood. After cutting one carefully into shape, I had to cut another equally carefully to shape. It was longer than my 3 foot ruler though and I needed a straight edge. Hence I pulled out a length of Lowes's (hiss, spit) 2x4 from the shed. Clearly Lowe's (hiss, spit) still get their wood from the great wiggly tree. I'm not really sure for what that piece of curvature is going to worthwhile. Perhaps a rocking chair?
Needless to say I got the floor into the closet and then sealed all around the edges with BlackJack Polyurethene caulk. That stuff is excellent and I need to put some under the bus around the edges of digital codepad. It will also be a wonderful gasket underneath the new roof vent.
I spent a positive age turning the Allen key clockwise to screw the thing into the axle for the wind generator with no success. It was only then that I remembered I had to turn the opposite way because it's a left handed thread! Once I remembered that, it wasn't long before it was fastened down. The only delay was having to cut a washer to fit the aluminium angle.
Will this turbine be used to power the bus? Probably not. That's why I bought it but I think I'm probably going to get more power from solar power. I would like to build a portable water powered generator though. That would be really cool!
No comments:
Post a Comment